This application claims the priority of Korean Patent Application No. 2002-28653, filed on May 23, 2002, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for constructing a network in which a master device and at least one slave device are connected, and a method of managing the network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Korean Patent Application No. 102000707449 is directed to a conventional audio/video network and a method of controlling the network, and more specifically to Home Audio/Video Interoperability (HAVi) middleware for guaranteeing interoperability among devices connected via an IEEE 1394 network. Referring to FIG. 1, HAVi devices 101 have IEEE 1394 adapters 102, which are connected to one another via IEEE 1394 cables 103. Here, HAVi increases compatibility among software modules installed in different devices for seamless interoperability among the devices. To achieve this, HAVi provides software modules with a plug and play function, a multimedia stream transmission function, a messaging function, an event control function, a registry function, a scheduling function, a stream management function, and a future proofing function. In the plug and play function, nodes that participate in a network are automatically detected and then addresses are provided to the nodes. In the multimedia stream transmission function, audio/video streams can be isochronously transferred using a basis media, IEEE 1394. The messaging function denotes messaging among software modules. If a circumstantial change has occurred anisochronously, the event control function notifies the software modules. The registry function denotes the management (e.g., registration and retrieval) of resources that participate in a network. Examples of the resources are software modules, devices, and the like. The scheduling function denotes the allocation and scheduling of the resources that participate in a network. The stream management function denotes the management (e.g., approval, registration, and retrieval) of streams within a network. In the future proofing function, a device control framework and an application framework are provided so that a new device control module or a new application program module can be dynamically installed and removed.
However, the above-described prior art has the following problems. Firstly, a HAVi function can only be provided by high-performance devices on the level of PCs. Hence, the conventional HAVi function is not suitable to be applied to low-performance digital home appliances.
Secondly, IEEE 1394, the interconnection medium chosen by the HAVi initiative, is a very expensive, high-performance network that supports 500 Mbps. Hence, the inclusion of IEEE 1394 greatly increases the manufacturing costs of products.
Therefore, a network middleware using a low-priced medium is required to provide new services based on the interoperation among current low-performance digital home appliances.